Abstract
Society has evolved enormously over the past few decades because of colonisation, slave trade migration,
immigration and recently, the colossal advancement in modern technology. The latter has resulted in an increased diversity
in societies and inevitably in school classrooms. South Africa, and more especially post-apartheid South Africa, is no
exception. The study analyses the perceived reluctance of parents’ of black learners attending historically white multicultural
schools in South Africa. It commences by exploring the South African schooling system immediately after the demise of
apartheid and examines the role of parents’ in relation to the schooling of their children. The study finally attempts to
determine the possible reasons for the perceived reluctant involvement of these parents, from the perspective of their
children. The quantitative research method was employed to collect the required information. The key findings revealed that
black parents are indeed less involved as compared to their white counterparts and the reasons for this were, that schools
usually communicated in a language not fully understood by black parents; they were made to feel unwelcome at these
schools and that the ethos and culture of these schools was foreign and often non-embracing.
Key words- Parental involvement, Back learners, Historically white schools